Sunday.  I didn't get to anything I had planned to do in the gardens yesterday.  The tickets for the annual garden "walk" went on sale yesterday and Mom wanted to pick them up while we could still get them at the lower "early bird" price.  I wrote "walk" because the gardens are spread out over a considerable distance so the only walking will be at the gardens themselves or between the few that are fairly close to each other.  Should be an interesting day though.  So we did a bit of shopping as well.  Mom broke her veggie peeler so we needed another but in finding those I found an intriguing  set of stacked planters.  I don't often yield to impulse when shopping but these were interesting.  I had to move another pot to find a place for the stack and then used the last of my garden soil to fill the three pots.  I am still thinking about what I want to put in them.

Monday.  I had a lazy Sunday of puttering and reading.  Transplanted a couple of plants, started filling up the new planter, and swept the patio a bit.  It was quite warm but no rain in spite of the clouds that came over a couple of times.  They say hot today but the no rain likely until late tonight which will be hit or miss.

What has happened to compassion and common sense?  I ask that frequently because I keep finding stories like this.  And this.

So Tony Blair thinks blaming the current situation in Iraq on the invasion in 2003 is bizarre.  He is correct only if you try to argue that the invasion was the only cause.  It wasn't.  But it provided another crack in an unstable structure.  However, that doesn't absolve the "coalition of the willing" from their share of the blame.  Another area where common sense is sadly lacking.

I have always viewed the old Biblical notion of the "sins of the fathers" rebounding on the children for generations.  One the one hand I don't believe children should be punished for the transgressions of the parents or the parents for the transgressions of the parents.  Actually, I just found that the Bible shares that notion.  On the other hand, it does recognize the fact that actions have consequences and those don't just fall on the perpetrators of the actions.  Case in point: the carving up of the Ottoman territories into "spheres of influence" after WWI.  For a good summary go to this article by Robert Fisk in the Independent (UK).